Hold ’em is normally played using small and big blind
bets—forced bets by two players. Antes (forced contributions by
all players) may be used in addition to blinds, particularly in
later stages of tournament play. A dealer button is used to
represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button
rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the
dealer and blinds.
The small blind is posted by the
player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of
the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left
of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament
poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the
tournament progresses. After one round of betting is done, the
next betting round will start by the person in the small blind.
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